Tag: James Cameron

Posted on in Television News

‘Terminator’: Showrunner Mattson Tomlin Shares Update On His Netflix Anime Series Being Made By ‘Ghost In The Shell’ Animation Studio

Writer Mattson Tomlin might not be a household name but he’s been behind the Netflix superhero flick Project Power and co-wrote Robert Pattinson’s The Batman with director Matt Reeves. One of his upcoming projects that people seem to have forgotten he’s involved with is a Netflix anime series from Japan’s Production I.G set in the dystopian cyberpunk world of James Cameron’s Terminator that launched in 1984.

Well, the writer/showrunner has teased that he’s completed a draft or currently working on one as the title page credits both James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd.

THE TERMINATOR – Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sent to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that will spark a nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against them. With the virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, she and Kyle attempt to escape.

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY – In this sequel set eleven years after “The Terminator,” young John Connor (Edward Furlong), the key to civilization’s victory over a future robot uprising, is the target of the shape-shifting T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a Terminator sent from the future to kill him. Another Terminator, the revamped T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), has been sent back to protect the boy. As John and his mother (Linda Hamilton) go on the run with the T-800, the boy forms an unexpected bond with the robot.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Japanese animation company Production I.G, they were behind the original Ghost In The Shell, Ghost In Shell 2: Innocence, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ghost In The Shell: Arise, Blood: The Last Vampire, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, and they made the anime segment in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol.1 that covered the origin of O’Ren Ishii.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ji2-_wdUY

SOURCE: MATTSON TOMLIN

Posted on in Film News

Vin Diesel Comments On Rumored Role In James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Sequels; “I Have Not Filmed Yet”

You might remember a cheeky video that was posted by Vin Diesel on Instagram back in April 2019 that had the Fast & Furious actor visiting director James Cameron on the Manhattan Beach Studios set of the Avatar sequels, where they shoot the motion-capture sequences. This originally gave fans the impression that Diesel could be joining the Cameron’s new Avatar movies in some capacity but nothing was ever officially announced, only speculated.

This was only bolstered because Vin’s Fast & Furious franchise co-star Michelle Rodriguez played SecOps pilot Trudy Chacon in the first Avatar installment.

Well, MTV News caught-up with Diesel during the promotional rounds for F9 and asked him directly about joining the massive sci-fi franchise. However, it sounds like if we’ll see Diesel in these movies, it won’t be until Avatar 4 or Avatar 5 as he says he hasn’t filmed anything “yet.” It’s been well established that James Cameron has completed motion-capture/live-action photography on Avatar 2 an Avatar 3.

Diesel responded with the following when asked if he’ll appear in the sequels, “I have spent time with [James Cameron], but I have not filmed yet. [smiles while pausing] I love James Cameron, and I love the series, and I think it’s safe to say that we will be working together.”

Hopefully, Avatar 2 will stick to it’s current release date of December 16, 2022.

AVATAR – On the lush alien world of Pandora live the Na’vi, beings who appear primitive but are highly evolved. Because the planet’s environment is poisonous, human/Na’vi hybrids, called Avatars, must link to human minds to allow for free movement on Pandora. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed former Marine, becomes mobile again through one such Avatar and falls in love with a Na’vi woman (Zoe Saldana). As a bond with her grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of her world.

SOURCE: MTV NEWS

Posted on in Film News

Concept Art From Neill Blomkamp’s Unmade ‘Alien 5’ Features A New Android Character

Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 aka Red Harvest was once an elevator pitch made to Sigourney Weaver on the set of Chappie alongside a wave of concept art the filmmaker had commissioned on his own that materialized into an actual development deal with 20th Century Fox to make the sci-fi film.

Blomkamp’s idea was to ignore Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection treating Alien 5 as a direct sequel to Aliens, allowing them to have characters such as Michael Biehn’s Hicks and an adult version of Newt (the two characters spotted in concept artwork). If you missed David Fincher’s Alien 3 that movie opened by killing-off both Hicks and Newt something that frustrated fans and Aliens director James Cameron.

James Cameron famously called the Alien 5 script “gangbusters” (Cameron seemingly borrowed Alien 5’s concept for Terminator: Dark Fate) but the project ultimately didn’t get into the production phase as the studio pivoted to making Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant instead. Alien 5 would eventually be trust into limbo with Blomkamp exiting to pursue multiple other projects and Disney hasn’t suggested they plan on resurrecting it anytime soon.

However, a new batch of Alien 5 concept from artist Geoffory Thoorens’ Art Station page has been spotted by AVP Galaxy and it features a new android characters named Jax (fist image seen below with Ellen Ripley) and Killson, the latter looks a lot like Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman (second image seen below). I’m sort of curious if Neill Blomkamp wanted to have Jackman play one of the androids, the Australian actor was the face of 20th Century Fox’s popular X-Men franchise at the time and had recently worked with Blomkamp on Chappie that also co-starred Weaver.

Hugh Jackman as Killson?

UPDATE: Geoffroy’s website includes this stunning key frame image from an action sequence that features an alien queen and another type of xenomorph (Alien 5 was going to feature multiple hybrid xenomorphs). The film would have seen the evil corporation Weyland-Yutani getting their hands on one of the derelict ships filled with xenomorph eggs and finally experimenting on the dangerous alien species for their weapons division, something they’ve been trying to do since the original Ridley Scott film.

The Alien franchise is in odd place as a new television series set on Earth is in the works from Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) and Ridley Scott. There has been chatter from Ridley that he’s developing another film as well, but those plans have yet to be officially announced by the studio.

SOURCE: GEOFFROY THOORENS

Posted on in Film News

James Cameron Says He Threatened To Fire Screenwriters Working On The ‘Avatar’ Sequels

With principle photography (live-action and motion-capture) completed on both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 there should be some celebration involved as many people weren’t sure if James Cameron was going to be able to complete all four of his sequels. They still have to finish-up Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, but having two in the post-production phase should be a step in the right direction to delivering on his ambitious plan.

However, it sounds like things didn’t go terribly smoothly in the development process according to James Cameron. During a chat on The Marianne Williamson Podcast (via The Playlist) the filmmaker revealed that he had to threaten to fire screenwriters because they weren’t listening to his instructions about waiting until figuring out what worked in the first film before adding new ideas and stories. Despite the “threat of firing,” it doesn’t look like he followed through with it.

CAMERON: “When I sat down to write the sequels, I knew there were going to be three at the time, and eventually it turned into four, I put together a group of writers and said, ‘I don’t want to hear anybody’s new ideas or anyone’s pitches until we have spent some time figuring out what worked on the first film, what connected, and why it worked. They kept wanting to talk about the new stories. I said, ‘We aren’t doing that yet.’ Eventually, I had to threaten to fire them all because they were doing what writers do, which is to try and create new stories. I said, ‘We need to understand what the connection was and protect it, protect that ember and that flame.’”

The writing team on the first three Avatar sequels includes James Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. They all share “story by” credit then divided-up the screenplays across Avatar 2 to Avatar 4. Shane Salerno co-writing the finale, Avatar 5, with James Cameron.

Cameron is known to be a complete control-freak on his productions and micromanaging the script development on four films is certainly something unsurprising given how much time he would be investing filming the movies and wanting to make sure he wasn’t wasting time/money pointless things. He’s also a writer himself and was closely working with them to execute his vision that would be told over five different films.

Jim also doesn’t suffer people working on his projects that don’t listen to him and has had to fire people even deep in production. Luckily, it doesn’t look like anyone was actually fired off the films.

SOURCE: THE MARIANNE WILLIAMSON PODCAST

Posted on in Film News

Box Office Record Reverts From ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Back To ‘Avatar’ Thanks To Re-Release In China

Deadline is reporting that estimates from China’s box office has given Avatar enough money from the re-release to have surpassed Avengers: Endgame, giving the James Cameron sci-fi movie the box office title again making it the highest grossing film. That’s until Disney re-releases Avengers: Endgame and the record flips back to Marvel Studios at some point.

The China reissue of the 2009 3D sci-fi phenomenon had taken an estimated RMB 58M ($8.9M) through 5PM local time on Saturday after re-releasing on Friday in the market. This closes and surpasses what was a $7.82M gap between the two films prior to China’s resissue. Disney/Marvel’s Endgame previously snapped up the top global crown from Avatar in July 2019. The current (and fluid) Avatar global total is an estimated $2,798,579,794 versus Endgame‘s $2,797,501,328.

It’ll be interesting to see if the domestic or global box office will ever fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as many don’t believe we’ll see blockbuster movies surpassing $1-2 billion grosses any time soon. While certain international markets might be able to go back to “normal” sooner than places that were harder hit by the virus such as the United States.

The re-release comes at an important time as James Cameron is prepping to release four Avatar sequels and making sure Chinese audiences remember the franchise will be a key element of those films making top-dollar when they’re eventually released starting with Avatar 2 in December 2022. I’m extremely curious to see if Jim can replicate the success of the original film four more times.

Filming on the multiple sequels has been taking place in California for the motion-capture portion and the live-action scenes being shot at Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. Hopefully, we’ll end up getting a teaser trailer for Avatar 2 before the end of the year from Disney/20th Century Studios.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Avatar’ Getting A Re-Release In China & Might Regain Box Office Record From ‘Avengers: Endgame’

James Cameron’s Avatar released back in 2009 was a huge phenomenon and became the biggest box office release globally at $2.79 billion, but eventually lost that spot when Avengers: Endgame took the record away earning $2.797 billion. Now, there is word from The Hollywood Reporter that China has approved a re-release of Avatar later this week.

China’s Film Bureau has approved a surprise plan for the director’s 2009 sci-fi epic Avatar to get a wide re-release in the country on Friday, according to two sources at Chinese movie theater companies, which were informed of the arrangements. The technologically trailblazing blockbuster will be made available to exhibitors for a nationwide release in both Imax 3D and ordinary 3D.

They point-out if Avatar earns $7.4 million it will regain the box office record.

Bringing the film back to China is a good way to prime a new generation for the upcoming sequels and reminding previous audiences about the franchise, since many likely haven’t seen it or haven’t watched it over the last ten-plus years.

James Cameron has been shooting Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and parts of Avatar 4 between California and Wellington, New Zealand. The first sequel, Avatar 2, is set to be released on December 16th, 2022.

AVATAR – On the lush alien world of Pandora live the Na’vi, beings who appear primitive but are highly evolved. Because the planet’s environment is poisonous, human/Na’vi hybrids, called Avatars, must link to human minds to allow for free movement on Pandora. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed former Marine, becomes mobile again through one such Avatar and falls in love with a Na’vi woman (Zoe Saldana). As a bond with her grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of her world.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

CBS Orders A ‘True Lies’ Series Pilot With James Cameron Producing & McG Directing

A while back director McG (Terminator Salvation) revealed to Collider during a video podcast interview that he was working on a True Lies series, potentially for Disney+. However, that doesn’t seem to come together as CBS has nabbed the project giving it a pilot order with James Cameron executive producing, McG set to direct it’s pilot, Matt Nix writing the script, and Disney’s 20th Television will be still involved as well.

The update on the project coming from The Hollywood Reporter.

Instead of a direct sequel, it is starting to look like a reboot of sorts as stated in the article. The original 1994 release written and directed by James Cameron is actually a remake of the 1991 French film La Totale!.

Shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband is a skilled international spy, an unfulfilled suburban housewife is propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage.

Rebooting isn’t all that shocking as CBS is already airing reboot series such as The Equalizer and Clarice.

They’ll have to knock it out of the park with the casting as scaling-back the action for a network television budget likely isn’t going to woo fans of the original film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, the latter getting multiple scene-stealing moments in the action-comedy. I remember seeing the film at the drive-in during the summer of 1994 and was one of my best movie-going experiences at the time.

Speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor is currently busy with his own untitled spy series for Skydance and Netflix that will focus on a father-daughter dynamic with Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro in the daughter role.

McG recently worked on the Disney+ series reboot of Turner & Hooch.

TRUE LIES – Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry’s mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he’s a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Robert Rodriguez Open To ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Sequel Heading To Disney+ – “It’s Not A Bad Idea”

Fans of Alita: Battle Angel have been hoping that with Disney taking over 20th Century Studios they’d end up landing sequel given the built-in franchise potential of the sci-fi movie adapted from the Japanese manga. The James Cameron project had been always envisioned as a trilogy as the source material allowed for that to happen.

There had been some optimistic comments from producer Jon Landau about a sequel last year talking with CinemaBlend.

LANDAU: “Absolutely. … When Jim [Cameron] was going to direct us, which he was at point, in his mind he had plotted out two additional stories of where we would go very specifically.“

“Well, I won’t speak specifically about Alita. I would just tell you that I think Jim [Cameron] and I love the opportunities that streaming and these other avenues of distribution are offering people today. And you know, we would love to get into those playgrounds and play in them, no matter what the title is.“

Now while speaking with Forbes to promote his Netflix film We Can Be Heroes, director Robert Rodriguez revealed he’d be open to make a Alita: Battle Angel sequel even if it landed at Disney+ as Robert has an established with Disney/Disney+ via The Mandalorian and the upcoming series The Book of Boba Fett.

RODRIGUEZ: “I think anything is possible. Disney bought Fox, and they have Disney+, so that is worth the conversation. I know other people would love to see another, and I would love to do another one. As far as where it would go or how it would be made, I think streaming has opened up many opportunities such as sequels. It’s already a pre-sold concept, it’s already got a built-in audience that wants to see it, and then it’s delivered to them in a way that’s the easiest for them to consume. So, it’s not a bad idea.”

As far we know, there aren’t plans at Disney/20th Century to make any new Alita project but it’s worth mentioning that Rodriguez is busy with his Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett currently shooting along with his Ben Affleck thriller Hypnotic on the horizon.

I personally enjoyed the film even in the final third act spent most of that time setting up a sequel instead having a standalone conclusion. Hopefully, something comes together eventually given the first installment ended on a cliffhanger and introducing Edward Norton‘s Nova as a main antagonist.

SOURCE: FORBES

Posted on in Film News

‘Avatar 3’ Has Officially Wrapped Filming In New Zealand

Avatar franchise producer Jon Landau posted on Instagram that they’ve finally completed live-action photography on Avatar 3, after finishing up Avatar 2 months ago. This means they can move closer to finishing them while also moving on to Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.

The image looks to be from a wrap party. Just so people are aware that New Zealand is currently free from COVID-19 which explains why they’re interacting so closely in the photo below as the country has returned to normalcy.

LANDAU: “Celebrating the wrap of live action photography—with Jemaine Clement, Brendan Cowell and James Cameron.  Congrats to the entire crew in both New Zealand and Los Angeles. Incredible work!”

Avatar 2 has new release date of December 16th, 2022 and Avatar 3 is set for December 20th, 2024. 

SOURCE: JON LANDAU

Posted on in Film News

‘Terminator’: Mackenzie Davis Says She Would Have Returned For ‘Terminator 7’ and Dishes Details

You might remember that during the promotion of Terminator: Dark Fate, that producer and co-creator James Cameron (also has story credit on Terminator: Dark Fate) talked-up to Cinema Blend knowing where a new Terminator trilogy could be going and having all these “ideas” about the next two films.

CAMERON: “I feel like one of my major motivations on this film or coming back to the, hopefully franchise, was to explore the human relationship with artificial intelligence. I don’t feel we did that in Dark Fate. I feel that we set the stage or we set the table for that exploration, and that exploration would take place in a second film and a third film.”

“And we know exactly where we’re going to take that idea. What we wanted to get in the first movie was this idea that it’s just going to keep happening. The names will change, but the basic conflict is going to continue to take place until it gets resolved one way or the other.”

This ultimately is unlikely happening anytime soon as the box office on Dark Fate was again disappointing and sequel plans have seemingly been placed on ice. Actress Mackenzie Davis has now revealed during an interview on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast that Terminator 7 would have allowed another version of Grace to appear and she’d reprise the role again.

HOROWITZ: Your character obviously didn’t make it through to the end of the movie. Was that it? Was there any resurrection plan if there were sequels?

DAVIS: “When does an NDA expire?…Yeah…like it was gonna be a timeline thing sort of , where there’d be another timeline that you’d explore. Like, there’s no resurrection, but she came from the future, so…”

HOROWITZ: So we go to the future and we see you in the future? Presumably.

DAVIS: “Yeah.”

What will happen with the Terminator franchise in the future is unknown but with Skydance and Paramount developing shows based on their film properties, a streaming series likely wouldn’t be out the realm of possibilities. However, I’m sure there are plenty of fans that would be fine with nothing new happening anytime soon.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST